MILWAUKEE — Last week, Nets general manager Billy King said he wanted to take the final six games before the All-Star break to see where the Nets stood before deciding what to do leading up to the trade deadline on Feb. 19.
But after the Nets lost 103-97 to the Bucks Monday night, they headed to Memphis, Tenn., for their final game before the break against the Grizzlies with just as many questions as they had a week ago.
“I can’t comment on what Billy is trying to do,” Nets coach Lionel Hollins said before the game. “All I’m saying is we’re trying to build consistency as a group.
“If we can stay healthy and have some continuity, we’ll be able to have a better view of where we can be and what our needs really are. But when you have guys in and out of the lineup with injuries and you’re not playing very well, it’s hard to justify doing anything.”
What was clear after this one — like it has been often this season — was the Nets (21-30) need to get younger and quicker.
The Bucks (21-30) became the latest team to exploit the Nets with quickness and athleticism, outscoring them 52-27 from the 7:45 mark of the second quarter — when a Bojan Bogdanovic 3-pointer made it 41-24 — through the end of the third, when Milwaukee held a 79-68 lead.
The third quarter was particularly gruesome for the Nets, who saw the Bucks double them up (32-16) while forcing Brooklyn into eight turnovers that led to 12 points.
Although the Nets made a push to get back into the game in the fourth quarter, cutting the Bucks’ lead to five three different times, the damage had already been done.
“We came out flat in that third,” said Joe Johnson, who had 19 points and six assists for the Nets. “Coach told us before the game that we had to keep scoring before the game, that we can’t have drops … that was the quarter that killed us.”
It also didn’t help that the Nets got nothing from Deron Williams, who missed all five of his shots and went scoreless in 22 minutes.
Including Monday’s performance, Williams is now 6-for-34 over his past four games and 2-for-22 over his past three.
“It’s not about me, it’s about the team,” Williams said, adding that he was fine after missing the team’s morning shootaround because of an illness.
“I’m here to do whatever I can. Right now it’s not enough, obviously, but all I can do is keep working at it and hopefully I’ll get it right.”
The loss left the Nets, who were led by Jarrett Jack’s 26 points and eight assists, are staring at the likelihood of following up their three-game winning streak with a three-game losing skid, as Memphis — one of the NBA’s best teams — rested while the Nets played then traveling after the game.
Meanwhile, the Memphis game remains the only one left for the Nets to determine what they should do with their roster — a question that doesn’t have a clear answer.
Of the team’s three high-priced stars — Williams, Johnson and Brook Lopez — only Lopez seems like a realistic trade candidate, given his contract is smaller and potentially shorter than the other two.
But Lopez has played well of late, including 10 points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots in 20 minutes Monday night, and has been a big part of the Nets turning things around recently.
If a trade for some wing depth and athleticism materialized, that would make sense to consider. But if the only offers are underwhelming ones like the Nets were getting when they nearly moved Lopez to Oklahoma City a few weeks ago, moving him wouldn’t make much sense, especially given they don’t control their draft pick, as they’ll be swapping it with the Hawks as part of acquiring Johnson in 2012.
In Hollins’ eyes, however, this evaluation period is about a lot more than the next two weeks.
“Who said we were going to trade? “ Hollins said. “We’ve got the offseason. This is a process that’s moving well forward … [it’s] not shortsighted, but longsighted.
“I’m not thinking about the trade deadline. I’m thinking about how we go for the last 30 games after the All-Star break and see where we are and where we need to go.”
But, like everything with the Nets, it isn’t that simple. With the idea of Mikhail Prokhorov selling the team remaining a distinct possibility in the coming months, it’s hard to say anything for certain about what this team will look like a year from now.
All of that only makes it harder to figure out exactly what the Nets will do over the next 10 days, and why the situation they’re in provides no easy answers.